A light beige or grayish-brown color, resembling unbleached linen or natural fabric.
From French 'écru,' literally meaning 'unbleached' or 'raw' (from 'é-' out of and 'cru' raw). French weavers and dyers used this term to describe the natural color of linen or cotton before any chemical bleaching or dyeing was applied.
Before synthetic dyes, when you made cloth it was naturally this soft beige color—that's ecru! It became fashionable again during the minimalist and natural-living movements because it represents 'authentic' and 'unprocessed.' High-end designers love ecru because it costs less than bleaching and dyeing, but sounds sophisticated.
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